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Books My Boys Read This August

August has been a pretty rainy month and my boys have been spending more time at home. All this extra free time around the house had led to a bit of increased reading! They've all found a few new series of books to try that they really enjoyed too!

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: The Haunted House Next Door-- Evan got this book from Barnes and Noble for finishing up his summer reading and he just LOVED it! So much that he often read 2-3 chapters a sitting and asked me to read at night and even on weekends! Andres moves into a new home and soon finds that it's haunted. Thankfully Desmond Cole, his new neighbor, is happy to help.

The Flashback Four; The Pompeii Disaster-- We have been enjoying this whole series together and were thrilled to find that the next book was available through our library. When the flashback four are sent to Pompeii they almost don't make it back with a photo of Mount Vesuvius erupting.

Calendar Mysteries: October Ogre-- Ian is just about finished reading through all the Calendar Mysteries. He loves these quick and easy reads. It's Halloween and the local hotel has been turned into a haunted house. The kids can't wait to explore.. until they realize no one else is coming back out. Could the hotel really be haunted?

A to Z Mysteries Detective Camp (super edition book 1)-- Evan began this book since he had no other books in the house he was interested in reading. He made it a good half- way through but told me while he didn't think it was a difficult book to read he just though it was boring. In the book the kids are at a summer sleep away camp with a fun detective theme when an actual crime appears to be happening at the camp soon they are hunting for clues to solve the case.

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods-- We listened to this book on CD while driving around in the car. In this 3rd book of the series Gregor, his mother, and his sister Boots head to the underland for a meeting where is mother is infected with a plague. Gregor, Boots, and assorted characters from the underland must embark on a quest to find the cure.

Nevermoor The Trials of Morrigan Crow-- Alec really enjoyed this book that combines magic, friendship, and courage. Morrigan Crow is cursed and is fated to die at midnight on her 11th birthday... until Juniper whisks her away to Nevermoor where she must compete in 4 different trials against hundreds of other children with extraordinary gifts in order to join in the Wundrous society or else leave the city and return home.

Kane Chronicles-- Book 1: The Red Pyramid-- Alec has finished re-listening to the entire Percy Jackson series on CD and began working his way back through the Kane Chronicles. In this first book Sadie and Carter discover that their families are part of a magical guild that have been working to keep Ancient Egyptian Gods from waking.

The Sisters Grimm-- Alec enjoyed this fractured fairy tale so much and we've already requested the next book in the series. He enjoyed the combination of humor, fantasy, mystery and adventure. Sabrina and Daphne are orphaned and sent to live with their grandmother where they discover that they are descendants of the Brothers Grimm and that the fairy tales they wrote are actually history books. When a giant begins terrorizing the town the girls must work to stop him and figure out who let him free in the first place.

Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol; Surf's Up Creepy Stuff-- Evan loved this third book in the series just as much as the first (thankfully they don't seem to need to have been read in order!). When Andres and Desmond spend a day at the beach the find that Mersurfers are causing all sorts of mischief and scaring everyone away from one portion of the beach. It's up to Andres and Desmond to find out why.

Calendar Mysteries: September Sneakers-- The kids have been taking care of the class pet hamster all summer long and then suddenly on the first day of school the hamster and cage are missing. Their only clue is a green and orange sneaker key chain. As sneakers begin appearing everywhere and more things go missing it's up to the kids to figure out what's going on.

The Magic Misfits-- Alec saw this book at Barnes and Noble and thought it sounded like something he'd really enjoy. He quickly read through the whole book and asked me to find him the next book in the series (unfortunately it's not out yet). Carter is a street magician who decides to run away to a sleepy New England town called Mineral Wells... except the town isn't so sleepy and Carter ends up teaming up with five other magicians to save the town from a band of crooked carnies.

The 78 Story Treehouse-- Ian has read the other 5 books in this series and I just knew he'd enjoy this 6th book too. Each book adds 13 more levels on the giant treehouse. In this book one of the levels is a giant open air movie theater which comes in handy since the boys are going to be in a movie. Then when Andy gets cut out of the movie he has a huge fight with Terry and they decide they don't want to be friends anymore.

The Seismic Seven-- Alec found this science- fiction fantasy book at Barnes and Noble and just HAD to have it. In this book seven children are coming together for a science camp at Yellowstone National park and are told that they were brought here to help stop a massive supervolcano from going off and destroying the world.

Mr. Granite is From Another Planet-- Evan and I are working our way through another Weird School book. In this book AJ and his classmates are meeting their new 3rd grade teacher Mr. Granite. He's so weird and so smart that soon the kids begin to wonder-- is Mr. Granite a super robot or does he come from another planet?

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